About our ingredients

The type of oil used to make soap greatly affects its properties. Different oils have different fatty acid compositions, which determine the soap's lathering, moisturizing, and cleaning properties. For example:

• Olive oil has a high percentage of monounsaturated fatty acids, which produce a mild, non-drying soap with low lather.

• Coconut oil has a high percentage of saturated fatty acids, which produce a soap with high lather and cleansing properties.

• Palm oil has a balance of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, which produce a soap with good lather and cleaning properties, but also a harder bar.

We use high oleic sunflower oil, which has very similar properties to olive oil and is perfect for addressing skin issues such as eczema.

Butters affect things like hardness, lathering, cleansing, and conditioning.  We use three butters in our blend, each contributing to different characteristics for our soaps and lotions.

• Shea butter is on the softer end of the hardness spectrum.  We include it for it’s amazing conditioning capabilities, as well as to balance the hardness of the other two butters.

• Cocoa butter is on the harder end of the hardness spectrum. We use it for its creaminess and ability to increase elasticity in the skin, and also to increase the hardness of our soap.

• Mango butter is also a harder butter. It has similar traits as cocoa butter and naturally includes vitamins C and E to help protect your skin from environmental stressors like sunlight, pollution, and even blue light.

Why does hardness matter?  The short version is harder soaps last longer.  Soft soaps dissolve faster in water, shortening their lifespan.  The trade-off is the harder a soap is, the less water soluble it is and the less we can use the cleansing characteristics.  The best soaps balance hardness with solubility to make the most of the cleansing properties for the longest amount of time.